middle_school_experiencefandomcom-20200213-history
The Summer Before High School
''' The Summer Before High School '''is the twenty-sixth and the last book of the Middle School Experience series. It chronicles the girls' summer vacation before they start their freshmen year of high school. Some of the girls get a head start on establishing themselves for their new adventures but run into setbacks that can impact their futures. Middle school is over, and the girls have designated their summer vacations to prepare for their next chapter: high school. While having fun in the sun, they work hard to make a name for themselves to a new group of peers, but some of them face challenges along the way. Jessie struggles with competition when she tries out for the soccer team, and Daphne feels hopeless about her future when she is placed in summer school. Alex is unable to resist changes within herself when she reconnects with an old acquaintance, and Chloe receives an opportunity that requires her to make a tough life decision. The girls thought they had everything figured out during middle school, but can they find the answers they need before they leave their past experiences behind? Summary At the beginning of summer vacation, Daphne and a few of her friends meet up at the community center to discuss their summer plans. Regina is planning to attend art classes at the center, Ellie plans to go on a trip to Six Flags with her student council friends, and Jessie is attending a soccer tryout program at Fairfield High School. Chloe and Daphne do not have any concrete plans yet, but they hope to join an theater program so they can improve their acting skills before joining Fairfield's drama club. During their conversation, Chloe announces that she and her mom have season passes to Water Wonderland and are planning to take the girls there on a girls' trip at the end of the summer, a few weeks before their first day of high school. Although the girls are nervous about high school, they try to stay optimistic about it and focus on enjoying their summer. When the girls leave the community center, they run into Ms. Thomas by surprise. Chloe and Daphne catch up with their old teacher, who reveals that she will be co-director of a teen theater program that will be held at the community center during the summer, much to their surprise and delight. At the end of the afternoon, Daphne gets picked up by her mom and tells her about the program on the ride home, but Barbara discourages the idea and reveals that she has signed her up for a summer school program at Fairfield that will help her review math topics. This cuts into Daphne's plans to join the theater program, and she is upset that her summer vacation is now ruined. Later that evening, Chloe and her mother Shannon are spending time in their family room when their housekeeper, Eliza, delivers the mail and informs Chloe that a letter came for her. To Chloe's surprise, the letter turns out to be an invitation to attend a prestigious performing arts high school. Unfortunately, the school is located in Los Angeles, which means that if Chloe accepts the invitation, Chloe and Shannon would have to move. Chloe is conflicted, as she wants to accept the opportunity, but she doesn't want to leave her friends, family, and life behind. In early June, Alex and her friends walk home after a day at the pool and decide to host a sleepover at Leah's house. When they arrive to Leah's house, they noticed that a new family is moving into the house across from the Harrisons, which they are excited about. They talk about the new neighbors with Leah's mother, Kelly, who is making sandwiches for them as a welcome gift. Kelly mentions that the neighbors have a son around the girls' age, much to Alex's dismay. After Kelly finishes making the sandwiches, they go over to the neighbors' home and introduce themselves to Melanie Farrington, who seems familiar to Alex. Eventually, Alex realizes that Melanie is the mother of Matt Farrington, her old sixth grade nemesis, which means that the Farringtons have moved back to Georgia after moving away a couple of years ago. Kelly and the girls also meet Melanie's husband Anthony and their son, Matt, who looks completely different and grown up from when they saw him last. Stunned by Matt's new appearance, Alex begins to freak out internally and runs home when Leah invites him to hang out with the girls. Later that day, Leah calls Alex to tell her that Matt has also changed as a person, which Alex doesn't buy. Leah also taunts Alex about Matt's new appearance and is convinced that Alex thinks he's cute, which she denies but later admits the truth to herself. Jessie attends the summer sports tryouts program at Fairfield, which she is less excited about after meeting the no-nonsense girls' soccer coach, Coach Washington, and Alaina Carrasquillo, a player from Lakewood's rival team that had quickly become her rival. Coach Washington informs the girls that they will be split into teams so they can get to know each other and participate in scrimmages that she will critique them on. To Jessie's dismay, she ends up in a team with Alaina and her friend Gina; however, she feels a bit better once she gets to know her other teammates, including a fellow Lakewood student named Payton and a new girl in town named Bria. After the teams practice their skills together for a while, Coach Washington has the girls participate in a free-kick drill, where they must score a goal without interference from the opposing team. Jessie notices the coach shooting disapproving looks to girls who miss their goals and vows to not mess up. Alaina is one of the few girls who does not mess up the drill, and her goal scores the approval of the coach, much to Jessie's dismay. When it is Jessie's turn, she messes up, and Coach Washington refuses to let her try again and gives her a look of disapproval. Jessie's friends try to cheer her up, but after Alaina and Gina taunt her over her mistake, Jessie almost fights them and feels even worse. She begins to think that there is a chance that she won't make the team. Unsurprisingly, Daphne dislikes summer school. She doesn't like her classmates, the difficult work, and her teacher's student assistant Eric, who is condescending towards Daphne and often loses patience with her. She becomes particularly grumpy about having to go to class the same day that the theater program at the community center is starting its ''Hamilton ''week. Still, Daphne tries to keep an open mind and tries to concentrate when her class begins to learn how to evaluate variable expressions; however, once Daphne answers an easy question incorrectly, she begins to lose interest in the lesson and ends up becoming confused by all the information that is being thrown at her. After the lesson ends, Eric decides to help Daphne with her classwork, but Daphne ends up daydreaming and not paying attention to him, which angers him. At the end of the class, Eric warns Daphne that if she doesn't take this class seriously, then it will keep her from achieving her dreams in high school. Daphne is initially annoyed by Eric's advice, but when she leaves the room, she realizes that he is right and vows to start taking summer school seriously. Alex decides to hang out with Leah, Arabella, and Regina at the mall, after feeling that she hasn't spent a lot of time with her friends this summer. After they shop and socialize, they decide to go to the food court. As Alex walks to the restaurant of her choice, she runs into Matt Farrington and begins freaking out internally. When Matt asks Alex to sit with him and his friend Craig, she tells him off before storming off; however, she can't get him out of her mind after that. When she goes back to her table, she tells her friends about her run-in, and it is revealed that she had actually been avoiding hanging out with her friends--mainly Leah and Ellie--because she is afraid that she will run into Matt, who had been hanging out with them often. Regina believes that Alex's nervousness around Matt is because of their past issues and suggests that Alex have a conversation with him to talk about her feelings and tell him off. Alex reluctantly decides to follow her friend's advice and goes over to Matt's table to talk with him; however, Craig is there, and Alex, who doesn't want to bring up her issues in front of him, decides to ask Matt if he had gotten settled into Georgia yet. Alex and Matt begin to have a discussion on what they've been up to since they last saw each other, and Alex realizes that her friends had been right about Matt being a changed person from sixth grade. Matt tells Alex that he ended up going to a new school when he moved back to California and ended up making new friends who helped him become more down-to-earth, including his girlfriend. Alex suddenly becomes uncomfortable after hearing about Matt's girlfriend and decides to go back to her friends' table. When she discusses the conversation with her friends, they tease her about her having feelings for Matt, but she angrily tells them off and informs them that Matt has a girlfriend, much to their shock and dismay. The girls decide to leave the mall, but as Alex waits to get picked up, she realizes that her friends' teasing was right and that she indeed has a crush on Matt. Chloe is enjoying her time at the community center's teen theater program, but she is becoming more and more worried about her upcoming deadline to decide whether or not she wants to attend Oceanside. One day after the program, Chloe talks to her dilemma to Maryann and Eddie, who are alarmed and worried about her possible move to California. Eddie tries to look on the bright side of things and decides to throw a party for Chloe and the rest of their drama club friends who had recently gotten into acting schools, much to Chloe's dismay, and Maryann urges Chloe to tell the rest of their friends about the situation, but Chloe is scared to and worried that her friends will be upset about the news and will resent her for leaving right before they start high school. At home, Chloe vents her frustration to her mom, who reassures her that her friends will accept whatever choice she decides to make and advises her to celebrate her Oceanside acceptance with her friends at Eddie's party. During the weekend, Chloe attends Eddie's party and tries to have a good time, but those hopes become dashed when Trinity, one of Chloe's drama club friends, brings up Oceanside in a conversation in front of Arabella, who doesn't know about Oceanside yet. Chloe quickly realizes that Eddie had told people her secret, and in an attempt to shield Arabella from the news, lies and says that Oceanside is in Georgia, much to Maryann's dismay. After being confronted by Maryann about lying, she decides to tell her friends about her dilemma at the end of the party; however, several conversations about Oceanside with her friends and other partygoers begins to make her feel anxious about holding in the news for so long. At one point during the party, Chloe hangs out with Alex and later realizes that her friend had developed a crush on Matt, much to her surprise. She realizes that she might not be around to see Alex's crush flourish and after becoming emotional, decides to gather her friends together and tell them the truth about Oceanside. At first, they are understandibly upset at Chloe for lying to them, but after Chloe tells them how conflicted she had been about making this decision, they have a change of heart. They tell Chloe that she should do what she feels will help her follow her dreams and reassure that they will support whatever choice she decides to make. At Fairfield, Jessie confides to Leslie and Kim that she is worried that Melina is stealing her thunder, but her friends reassure her that her soccer skills are fine just the way they are. Jessie begins to feel better about her situation, but when she walks onto the field, she notices that Melina is flirting with Freddy, which angers her. When practice begins, the boys and girls split the field by half. Coach Washington splits the girls up into four teams so they can have a practice scrimmage; Jessie ends up on a team with Leslie, Kim, and some of her Lakewood teammates, but Melina ends up on the team, too. Jessie's team does well in the scrimmage, but at the end of the game, Melina refuses to pass the ball to Jessie and ends up costing her team the game. Melina calls out Jessie for not passing the ball to one of her teammates during the indoor soccer competition last winter, and Jessie snaps and punches Melina in the face, breaking her nose. The soccer coaches abruptly end practice so Melina can be rushed to the hospital; however, Jessie is asked to stay behind. Coach Washington scolds Jessie and calls her immature. She warns that if Jessie and Melina do not start getting along, then neither of them will make the team By July, Eric feels like he has gotten nowhere with Daphne during the tutoring sessions, and starts acting less enthused to be around her. Daphne tries to pay attention, but finds herself worrying about starting high school and possibly not seeing Chloe again. Eric finally gets fed up that Daphne isn't paying attention and snaps, revealing that he has a girlfriend and that he is getting paid by the Carsons to help Daphne. Eric confesses that he thinks Daphne is shallow and tells her that she is not ready for high school. He decides to leave and lies to Mrs. Carson about the reason. When he leaves, Daphne tells her mom about the real reason Eric left and runs to her room in tears. For the rest of the summer, Jessie tries to improve her attitude during soccer tryouts. Unfortunately, her attitude doesn't pay off since Melina is now ignoring her and Coach Washington still doesn't seem to like her. On the last day of tryouts, the soccer coaches will announce the players who had made the teams. Before the announcements start, Melina approaches Jessie and asks to speak with her quietly. Melina talks to Jessie about ending their rivalry, but at first, Jessie assumes that Melina only wants to end it to impress Coach Washington. Melina reassures Jessie that she is sincere and explains that she only acted rude towards her because she felt jealous and threatened by her. Jessie reveals that she had felt the same way and she and Melina apologize for their previous actions. Soon, Coach Washington gathers all of the girls together and reveals the names of the ones who had made the team; they include Jessie, Melina, Leslie, Kim, Kendall, and a few girls from the Lakewood team. Jessie is initially shocked that Coach Washington picked her to be on team, but when she sees the coach smile at her, Jessie learns that the coach had faith in her after all. Jessie also learns that Freddy had made the boys' team and congratulates him. The boys and girls who had made the teams participate in a soccer scrimmage; the girls win. A few of the players decide to celebrate by going out to ice cream, and Jessie decides to invite Melina and Kendall. Jessie is happy that things worked out during the soccer tryouts, and is excited to finally begin high school. Since Chloe's party, Alex had barely seen Matt. She becomes more discouraged when she learns that Matt has been hanging out with the Popular Sensations and other popular kids in their grade. Alex decides to give up on her "girly" makeover. One day, Ellie invites her and a few of their friends to eat with her at Applebee's. At lunch, the girls talk about high school, but Alex and Daphne act negatively about it. Gail tells them that they should stop trying to get boys who don't like them for who they are. While the girls wait for their order to come, Matt and his father walk into the restaurant, and Matt decides to introduce his dad to the girls. Alex is rude to them, and Matt begins to feel discouraged. When the Farringtons leave, Ellie and Leah scold Alex for being rude, and Ellie tells Alex to admit that she's jealous that Matt has been hanging around the Popular Sensations. Alex begins to think Ellie is right. A few minutes later, Matt asks to speak with Alex privately, and they go outside to talk. Matt confesses that he didn't like Alex's makeover because it wasn't her, and confesses that he had wanted to hang out with the popular kids at first but stopped when he learned that they were using him to get closer to his famous father. Alex confesses that she had been jealous of him hanging out with Clarissa and admits that she likes him. To her surprise, Matt likes her back but had been nervous about anything relationship related. They decide to stay friends and take things slow for now. Matt kisses Alex on the cheek, and the two go back inside the restaurant to eat lunch. July 31st arrives, which means that Chloe has to tell her mom her final decision on whether she wants to go to Hollywood High School or not. It is also the last day of the acting classes, and the friends that she had made there throw her a small party. After the party ends, Maryann informs Chloe that Alex had invites everyone to hang out at her neighborhood pool, but Chloe is reluctant about going. Maryann reassures her that no one is going to act weird around her, and Chloe decides to go but only to tell them her final decision. At the pool, the girls begin talking about high school, and Chloe reveals her decision to Regina and Arabella. Arabella is especially upset about the news, and tells their other friends. Chloe confesses to them that they had made her feel left out for the entire summer and assumed that didn't care if she moved away. Some of the girls admit that they did make her feel left out and apologize to Chloe. They try to convince her not to choose to go to California. Chloe decides to leave the pool early and tells her friends that she'll e-mail them her decision. A few hours later, Maryann and Daphne walk home from Alex's neighborhood. While they walk, they run into Eric, who is with a few of his friends and his girlfriend. Daphne tries to act friendly towards Eric, but he scowls at her. When Daphne arrives home, her mom begins talking to her about school shopping, but she is not interested. Daphne confesses that she is scared about starting high school and she is frustrated by the pressure that her parents put on her to do well in math. Her mom admits that Daphne is right and reveals that Daphne's older siblings had struggled with math when they reached high school, and she didn't want Daphne to have to struggle like they did. She convinces Daphne to talk to Eric again, and gives her his e-mail address and phone number. Daphne decides to e-mail Eric and apologize for her actions. Eric apologizes for the harsh words that he had said towards Daphne and tells her that she can ask him for help anytime. Later, Chloe sends her friends a lengthy e-mail about her decision. She decided not to go to Hollywood High School, but because she really wanted to go to a performing arts school, she decided to attend one in downtown Atlanta. Daphne is initially upset at the news, but decides to put her fears aside about high school and look at the new change in a positive light. On the day before the first day of school, the girls go to Lakewood to say one last goodbye before they officially begin high school. They all talk about how their middle school experience has gone. They vow that no matter where their lives take them, they will always stay friends no matter what. Characters (in order of appearance) * Regina Daniels * Daphne Carson * Ellie Jackson * Jessie Sanchez * Chloe Winters * Angela Thomas * Barbara Carson * Shannon Winters * Eliza Cantrell * Leah Harrison * Alex Sanders * Kelly Harrison * Melanie Farrington * Anthony Farrington * Matt Farrington * Carrie Sanders * Leslie Morgan * Alaina Carrasquillo * Monica Washington * Sally Cantle * Eric Howe * Arabella Wilson * Maryann Chang * Eddie Olson * Trinity Bryant * Freddy Hamilton * Robbie James * Gail Edwards * Katelyn Sanders * Ariana * Camryn Lovett * Clarissa Simpson * Marylin Roberts * Gabby Evans * Lindsay Shapiro * William Frost (mentioned) Trivia * This book was rewritten four times. First edition, 2009. Current edition, 2020. Category:Stories Category:Articles under construction